A common technique to sterilize objects used in e.g. hospitals, laboratories and the pharmaceutical industry is to use a sterilization apparatus such as an autoclave. A sterilization apparatus typically comprises a chamber for receiving the objects to be sterilized and a fluid system for supplying a sterilization medium to the objects inside the chamber. The sterilization medium may for example be supplied to the objects by nozzles.
In steam sterilization, steam is introduced into the chamber and the temperature is increased to a sterilization temperature. After a predefined sterilization time, which depends on the sterilization temperature used, the steam is evacuated from the chamber.
The total process time, which is often of great importance to the user of the sterilization apparatus, mainly consists of the above-mentioned sterilization time, the time for introducing steam and achieving the sterilization temperature, and the time for evacuating the chamber. For certain kinds of objects to be sterilized, additional processing time before or after the actual sterilization may be required to further process the objects. For example, closures that are sterilized in bags may be subjected to drying cycles to remove steam condensate in the bags. A further example is the sterilization of bottles with content, which may require additional cooling time due to their relatively large thermal mass.
Any such additional processing adds to the total process time during which the objects occupy the sterilization apparatus.
It would be desirable to provide for a reduction of the total process time of the sterilization process.